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 Thursday, September 01, 2011
The Pew Internet Project has just released some findings from a survey it conducted over a one month period that give us a look into the shifting demographics of the world of social media. The main takeaway: Social media use within the older demographic is on the rise. That's right, places like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace are expanding from institutions for the young to institutions for everyone. Have you noticed a broader demographic when it comes to social media use? Let us know in the comments. The survey asked 2,277 adults about their social media use. What they found was that use among folks aged 50 to 64 has jumped to 32% - that's up 60% from last year's number which was only 20%. The older crowd is the group whose numbers are moving. When asked about their social media use, the younger crowd (30 and below) had a participation percentage of 61. That's up only 1% from last years figure of 60%. According to Pew, participation doesn't mean avid use though - “The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools,” said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and co-author of the report. “While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.” What does this mean for businesses? Obviously, social media might have to factor in to your gameplan if it doesn't already. An eMarketer report earlier this month showed that many small business owners don't think social media is key to their business plans. Only 12% said that "social media is a must." and 43% said that it's "not necessary to my business." But if more and more people, including the population of people 50+, begin to flock to sites like Twitter and Facebook - can small businesses ignore social media as a tool? Do you believe that social media shoudl be a big part of your small business plan? If not, does this information on the older generation change your opinion? Let us know in the comments.
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By Chris Crum
BIA/Kelsey has put out a new U.S. spending forecast, saying that small and medium-sized businesses will continue the recent trend of shifting their marketing budgets to digital advertising, performance-based platforms and customer retention business solutions over the next five years. By 2015, the forecast says, SMBs will allocate 30% of their marketing budgets to traditional advertising (down from 52% last year), with the remaining 70% going to digital/online media (including: mobile, social, online directories, online display, and digital outdoor), performance-based (PPC, deals, coupling) and customer retention business solutions (email, reputation and presence management, websites, social marketing, calendaring/appointment setting). » Continue reading this article.
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